1325
80 Lead, from litharge, made by the English process.
81 Lead, hard, before crystallization. It is reduced inreverberatory furnaces.
82 Lead, soft. The latest produce of the crystallization.
8 The Director of Mikes of Bio Tinto, Huelva.
1 Drey copper, from the Preciosa mine, which contains22 per cent, of copper, and 0T25 per cent, of silver.
2 Haw mineral ore, proceeding from the vein of doublesuiplmret of iron and copper. This ore, which producesan average of five per cent, of copper, appears in a mass
irregular form and of large dimensions.
. 3 Ore prepared by slow roasting, exposed to the openair in piles, and worked by the damping process.
[This process consists in stratifying the sulphur ores'"’ith carbonaceous matter, and setting fire to the pile;tile whole undergoes a slow combustion. Both the sul-phur and the copper absorb oxygen from the atmospherein the process, and sulphate of copper is formed; this ishashed out by water in the damping process, and iron isthen employed to precipitate the copper. This precipita-tion of copper by iron is an example of substitution: aparticle of iron is converted into sulphate of iron, anddissolved, for every grain of copper deposited.—It. II.]
. 4 Bar of forged iron, covered with a case of copper pre-cipitated from the waters of the Bio Tinto; which, travers-ln g excavations made at different epochs, some veryI'einote, carry sulphate of copper in solution.
5 Bar of cast iron, covered with a casing of copperprecipitated, by the action of the iron, from the waterscharged with sulphates of iron and copper.
6 Bar (Toral) of fine copper, produced from therefining of the casing of the class No. 4, performed ina reverberatory furnace.
7 Cake (Roseta) of fine copper, resulting from therefining in crucibles of the scales, or copelas, of No. 5.
® The Inspector of Mines of Santander.
Copper pyrites, from the Constancia mine, town ofGanialeno, district of Petes: the ore produces 20 per cent.of copper.
[Under this head may, first, be noticed the ores fromUie mineral beds of Huelva , the mines of which haveb cen almost always worked by the government. The^rerage richness of the grey copper, which is a mixture ofUvo pyrites of iron and copper, is above 5 per cent, of» latter metal. There are also the ores of the “ Preciosa”1T| ine, which are of a sulphuro-arseniated antimoniure, com-pounded with iron, silver, copper, &c. This deposit ist Uu d to consist of an irregular sort of vein, of about 40centimetres (or 13 inches) in breadth. It contains 20 per■ of copper and of silver. Its price, at the surfaceth e mine, is about 15 francs the quintal. The mine ofof p 61 ' Whites ™ the province of Seville , near the villagefa f lS ^ e ^ 0 4o l as Guardas, is very considerable. It is, in
intv Tei “ ° f metal of from 12 to 13 metres ( 39 t0 42 fuet )
a , lekness, with a breadth of 336 metres (1092 feet),
3 'kpkb of 35 metres (114 feet). The mineral is mixedf 0r 1 Tiartz, in the proportion of ?>} per cent, of theTh^ 101 ') l >er cccl- of the latter, and the residue is iron..° *‘ a ™> 84 these works, from 200 to 225 quintals of
Sul a ' 0n 9 ° r “•
Sierr c0 PP er “ procured also at Grenada , in the
The 1 ? Ta< ^ a> ™ the Asturias , at Santander, &c.ccedin 1 U6 aUC ^ § reen carbonates of copper abound, ex-th e —^ at ^ elez Rubio, at Bavareue. and at Torre, k
province of Almerfi
at Bayargue, and at Torre, inMining is very irregularly con-
ducted in this country. Some speculations of this nature,however, are in progress of organization, and othersalready begin to yield returns.
The mines of argentiferous coppers of Saragossa, thatare now wrought, yield from 11 to 15 per cent, of copper,and 8 ounces of silver, for every quintal of ore. There aremines of this sort at Calcena and at Biel; but this lastdoes not contain silver, any more than tlie mineral ore ofEoxburne, which yields 18 per cent, of iron, however, andsells for 1 franc 85 centimes the quintal.
Carbonated copper is found, moreover, in the Asturias ,in the mine called tlie “ Miracle,” in the commune ofOvis . All tins ore is exported to foreign countries, at therate of about 5 francs tlie quintal. The sulphurettedleads of Santander, from the mine of Constancia, near thevillage of Cameleno, are found in veins of about a foot inthickness; and they give about 12 per cent, in metal.These workings have been commenced with some chancesof success, for the country abounds both in building-timberand in woods adapted for conversion into charcoal.
The coppers procured from all these ores, particularlythose of Bio Tinto, of Seville , and of Ahnaden (specimensof which are deposited in the Exhibition), are of excellentquality. Various bars of iron (which are also in this col-lection), covered with an incrustation of copper, will illus-trate the usual method employed—whether for watersthat are naturally saturated with sulphate of copper, orfor the transmutation of copper and iron ores (minerals)into double sulphates. The metal precipitates itself, andthe incrustation of copper is smelted and refined in rever-berating furnaces. Other ores or minerals that differ intheir properties from sulplmrs are treated by fusion—pre-ceded, where such process becomes necessary, by roasting.The pure coppers from Bio Tinto that are deposited in theExhibition, realize a price of about 95 reals tlie arroba of12£ kilogrammes; that of Seville , about 90 reals. It isfrom this last-named kind that they make “lateen” orbrass capsules, and metal plates, in the factory of SanJ uan de Alearres (which has not sent any sample of itsproducts, on tills occasion, to London ). A certain quan-tity of them is forwarded to Catalonia . Tlie copper ofBio Tinto is chiefly employed in perfecting the coppercoinage of Spain (already too extensive), and in meetingthe demands of the Spanish marine.]
10 The Marte Minin® Company, Losacio, Zamora,
Specimens of silver, lead, and other mhierals.
11 The Inspector of Mines of Saragossa.
1 Argentiferous galena, from the San "Vicente minedistrict of Eombuena : lead, 28 per cent.; silver, 2 oz.—perquintal of 100 lbs. Spanish .
2 Ore of copper, from the Imperial mine, in the samedistrict.
3 Argentiferous galena, from the Desgraciada mine,district of Ateca: lead, 22 per cent.; silver, 3 oz.—per100 lbs. of mineral.
4 Antimony, from tlie Paraiso mine, in the same dis-trict.
5 Antimonial galena, from the mine of Na. Senora delos Dolores, in the same district: lead, 18 per cent., per100 lbs. Spanish ; antimony, 12 per cent.; silver, 1£ oz.—per 100 lbs. Spanish .
6 Sulplnu-et of lead and antimony, from the Ascensionmine, district of Nombrega : lead, 22 per cent.; antimony,8 per cent.; silver, 2 oz.—per 100 lbs. Spanish .
7 Copper, from the Maria mine, district of Biel.
8 Argentiferous copper, from the Mensula mine, district
5 A 2